DECISION AND ATTRIBUTION BIAS IN NEUROREHABILITATION

Objective: Examine neurorehabilitation therapists' clinical prediction s and attributions for outcomes. Design: Single sample, repeated measu res, Participants: A sample of 51 neurorehabilitation therapists selec ted from representative disciplines including occupational therapy, ph ysical therapy, speech therapy, and recreation therapy, Main Outcome M easures: Self-report questionnaire on factors related to positive and negative outcomes in neurorehabilitation. Rank order listing of factor s influencing outcome in neurorehabilitation. Results: Without cuing, therapists did not identify injury severity as factor in outcome (p <. 0001), Therapists also made internal attributions for positive outcome s and external attributions for negative outcomes p, <.0001), Conclusi ons: Neurorehabilitation therapists tend to ignore injury severity as factor in outcome unless encouraged to do so, Therapists accept person al responsibility for positive outcomes, but not for negative outcomes , Neurorehabititation teams may benefit from education on factors affe cting prognosis and attribution bias found in clinical practice.